Intelligence War on Iran’s Fordow Site

A hidden interceptor transmitted valuable information at the Fordow site and apparently self-detonated when it was discovered.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

First Publish: 9/23/2012, 7:59 AM

iran espionage continues

Israel news photo: Flash 90

A hidden interceptor transmitted valuable information at the Fordow site and apparently self-detonated when it was discovered, the Sunday Times of London reported, quoting Western intelligence sources.

The mid-August explosions have been covered up by Iran until last week, when it announced that “terrorists” blew up electric cables from the city of Qum to the underground Fordow plant but caused no damage. Iran claimed that an alternative power allowed the nuclear site to continue operate normally.

Sunday’s report disclosed that the explosion actually occurred when Iran’s Revolutionary Guard personnel at Fordow discovered and removed a stone, which actually was an intercepting device that transmitted computer information, including the level of enriched uranium.

The discovery and subsequent explosion resulted in a loss of an important source of intelligence for the West, sources said.

No individual country was named by the London newspaper as being behind the planting of the interceptor, but it is widely accepted that agents working on behalf of Israel have been involved with several assassinations of nuclear scientists and with cyber attacks on Iran’s unsupervised nuclear facilities.

Iran has accused Siemens of sending explosive devices inside equipment destined for Fordow, which is buried deep in Iranian mountings and under concrete bunkers, making it almost invulnerable to an aerial attack. Siemens denied the accusations.